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Alexandra Brand
Sergeant Alexandra "Alex" Brand was one of the few female Gears serving in a frontline role in the post-Emergence Day COG army. She had been part of Chairman Richard Prescotts birthing program to boost the human population, but was unable to bear children, thus forcing her to take a combat role. She was assigned to Foxtrot four months after the Lightmass Offensive, and was reassigned to Delta-One on their reconnaissance of Jilane, since she was from the breeding farms located there. Biography Living on the Farms Alex was born in the city of Jilane. After Emergence Day, Alex, like many other women, was sent to the breeding farms in Jilane to produce more children for the COG to maintain the war effort. Her earliest memories were of people talking about making babies, and how the women who had the most were treated like princesses. At the age of twelve, she was raped several times by the facility's Warden. After this, she began working out in order to fight off future attempts. At the age of fourteen, they tried to artificially inseminate her so she would produce offspring. Alex attempted to resist, but they two men overpowered her and strapped her down. The attempts failed, and they attempted to impregnate her with more traditional methods, allowing the most decorated Gears to have their way with her. At the age of eighteen, she was declared barren and sent to boot camp to become a frontline Gear. She attempted to tell people about what was going on in Jilane, but people either didn't listen to her or didn't care. When she heard that Jilane had been overun by the Locust, she cried, and was unsure if it was from grief over the women who had died or happiness that the farm was gone was gone.Gears of War: Barren Issue One Assigned to Foxtrot Alex quickly rose through the ranks, and became a Sergeant in Foxtrot. When one of her squadmates called her "foxy", he woke up with a dead Heart Leech bleeding on his chest. Four months after the Lightmass Offensive, Alex was partnered with Gus during an urban operations battle against the Locust, working with Delta-One to clear the area. After clearing an area of Locust and destroying an Emergence Hole, they moved on to 6th and LaCroix street. Delta-One was ambushed by Locust where Foxtrot had destroyed the E-Hole, and became pinned down by snipers. Alex and Gus rushed back to help, but were unable to reach the snipers because of Tickers, and they did not have any granades to throw into the sniper nest. Alex decided to climb on top of rubble next to the building the snipers were in, and jumped across. She blew up the Tickers, causing a chain reaction that blew up the sniper nest. As she came down from the building, the members of Delta were surprised to discover she was a women when she took off her helmet and asked for a ride home. Mission to Jilane Reassigned to Delta After the battle, Foxtrot and Delta returned to base. Alex was called into a briefing with Delta-One, and two members of Sigma-One, Cpl.Damon Baird and Pvt.Augustus Cole. They were briefed by Col.Victor Hoffman and Lt.Anya Stroud on a distress call coming from Jilane. Since the COG had lost the city months ago and there were no forces in the area, they had decided to send Delta to investigate, with Baird and Cole to increase the missions firepower, and Alex to use her native knowledge and scouting skills to help them. Since it was his squad, Sgt.Marcus Fenix was placed in overall command of the mission despite being the same rank as Alex. As the Gears prepared for the mission, Alex walked up behind Cole as he talked about wooing her, to the amusement of the other Gears. She yelled "incoming" right behind him, causing him to panic and drop his beer, which Alex caught and thanked him for. As the squad packed up their Armadillo, Alex saw Dom looking at a picture of his wife, and heard him talking with Cole about maybe finding her in Jilane. She wished him luck in finding her, but told him she would be better off with the Locust than in Jilane. She then told the Gears what had happened to her and the others in the farms. She then got into an argument with Marcus, saying that since he had so many medals, the COG must have let him go to the farms. When he denied this, she called him a liar and a bastard, but he told her that while he may be a bastard, he wasn't a liar, and had never been to the farms. Returning to "Hell" The Gears arrived in Jilane, and began their search for the beacon at the Farm. Alex went with Marcus and Baird, while Dom, Jace, and Cole searched another part of the facility. They began their search in the wards, discovering a large number of corpses. As she looked at the machines where the babies were kept, Alex wondered what kind of children would come from such an upbringing, one in which they were not raised to love. As they moved through the building, they were surprised when a group of women cornered them. When Baird saw they were pointing their guns at them he raised his, and insulted the women, starting a firefight. Marcus told him not to fire, and he and Alex attempted to get the women to stop shooting. The women’s leader ordered them to hand over their weapons and surrender, and Marcus ordered them to do it. However, the rest of Delta-One arrived, rescuing them, and Alex and the others retrieved their guns. Marcus discovered that the women were not the ones who had set off the beacon, and did not even want COG help. Matron then explained that after the fall of Jilane, the women who survived cared for the children who were still alive, and avoided the Locust. Alex then came up to Matron and asked if she even remembered her, and a shocked Matron recognized her. Alex revealed that it had been Matron who sent Alex to become a soldier after she was declared barren. Marcus reported to Anya that they had located survivors, but they were not the ones who had set off the beacon. He then took Baird and Cole to find the beacons source, while Alex, Dom, and Jace stayed with the GBL. Alex then talked with Annalisa, who asked her what is was like to be around the "rapists", and how she could stand being in the COG. Alex responded that when the war was over, then she would be more judgmental.Gears of War: Barren Issue Two Locust Attack Alex monitored the area for seismic activity, and when she detected some, told the GBL to get their people into the emergency bunker. As they headed towards it, Marcus contacted them and told them that their signal was being jammed, and that he, Cole, and Baird could not locate the bunker. Alex was worried about how they would survive, but Annalisa said that it didn't matter, and to leave them behind. Alex refused to, and told Annalisa to follow her. She contacted Marcus and told him to describe his surroundings, and had Annalisa figure out that they were in the GBL's greenhouse. They fought their way to them, and saved them from being overrun by the Locust. Alex and the others then headed back towards the bunker, meeting with Jace, Dom, and Thecelia on the way.Gears of War: Barren Issue Three They all made it into the bunker, except for Marcus, who got hit in the face by a Mauler and was knocked unconscious. Despite being higher ranked, Alex let Baird take charge of the squad, since he knew the others better than she did. He ordered her to plant grenades on proximity fuses around the door, so that they could open it when they needed to and kill a lot of Locust. They would then move around the escape tunnels to get the drop on the Kantus leading the attack. Alex told him that the tunnels were tight, and that they would need to take off their armor to move around in them. She then began planting the grenades around the room. After Baird put a loop of the children screaming for help on speakers around the facility to distract the Locust, Alex complimented him on his quick thinking. She then when with him and Annalisia to kill the Kantus leader, waiting for it to become distracted while healing a Drone to kill it. They then regrouped with the rest of the Gears and the GBL after getting Marcus. When the Gears and GBL began to argue again about them being forced to come back, Alex told them they would be safer with the COG. However, their argument was cut short and the evacuation plan was scrapped when Alex saw Locust reinforcements, including Corpsers and Reavers, arrive.Gears of War: Barren Issue Four Escape From Jilane Once Matron told Marcus where several vans were, the Gears and the GBL headed to retrieve them and escape Jilane. Alex told Jace that she would ride in the back of his van, but instead stayed behind to try and convince Matron and Annalisa to try and escape before they set off a bomb to kill the Locust. They refused, but Baird arrived, having also stayed behind and tried to convince them to go as well. Annalisa hit him and put a gun to his head, and Alex told her to drop the weapon or she would shoot. She refused, believing that Alex wouldn't shoot her over putting a gun to a man's head, but Alex did, hitting her in the shoulder. Baird took Annalisa to a van, and Alex tried one last time to convince Matron to come with them, but she refused again. Alex told her that despite what she had done to Alex as a kid, she had saved the ones that had been with the GBL, and that she had done a good job. She then ran to the van and got into the driver’s seat, while Baird tried to get Annalisa inside. Alex threatened to shoot her again if she didn't calm down. She began driving as Matron set off the bomb, and was able to outrun the explosion, joining up with the rest of the vans. After they made it back to Jacinto, Baird offered Alex his thanks for saving his life, and she accepted.Gears of War: Barren Issue Five Meeting with Jace at the Rusty Nail One week later, Alex met with Jace at The Rusty Nail. She had the bartender, Joey, bring them two bears and put them on her tab. She asked how his visit to the orphanage he grew up in had gone, and inquired how a girl he had rescued, Lily, was doing. Jace told her that Lily was doing fine considering her situation, but that her mom was still in a coma. Alex then asked Jace how his ear had gotten half of it blown off, and he told her a Torque Bow had almost killed him. She encouraged him to tell the whole story, and he told her about Operation: Midnight. Once he finished, he told Alex it was her turn to share, and she told Jace that if he bought the next round, she would share a story.Gears of War: Midnight Personality and Traits Alex was an extremely strong-willed and able Gear. Despite the experiences she had gone through at the Birthing Creche at Jilane, she was untrumatized. One of her most defining traits was her extreme loyalty to her fellow Gears, refusing to ever abandon them. This even extended to Baird, whom she did not get along well with, even to the point of her shooting Annalisa, one of the women whom she had been in the Birthing Creche with, to save him. Notable quotes Behind the Scenes *The title of the Barren story arc may be a reference to Alex's inability to bear children.Gears of War: Barren *Alex was "created" by comic legend Jim Lee.Gears of War Official Site References Category:COG Category:Characters Category:Gear Soldier Category:Females Category:Tyran